A/N: Sorry I forgot to be clear. This is eventual Swanqueen. Thank you so much for your support . I'm glad you're liking it so far.

"Katherine are you sure you can take care of Henry?" Regina asked her friend for the seventh time that night. "I can figure out something else if you want to spend time with David."

Katherine rolled her eyes, "Trust me, I am happy to watch Henry, it'll be just like being at home except he'll actually pay attention to me."

Regina sighed, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Go do your thing already woman. I'm fine."

Regina hung up on her friend and plugged the newcomer's address into her GPS. The drive was just long enough to make Regina uncomfortable. Why am I even doing this? She questioned, She obviously keeps her people under tight watch so I don't need to warn her off.

Regina parked out in front of the gate in the guest parking and went through the single person gate. The ranch hadn't really had anyone interested in decades. Admittedly, that was Regina's fault, but the sudden change had been both shocking and pleasant. After thirty years without a single deviation from schedule. Of course, how this newcomer even learned about the ranch was anyone's guess.

She began the walk up the path and quickly regretted her decision to not change shoes. Her dress pants are covered in dust and debris now, but that's nothing compared to the ache building in her feet.

The rhythmic thud of hooves reached her ears and quickly grew louder. A blonde on a huge black stallion with a second white one on lead came at a quick clip. She pulled them to a practiced stop a few feet away from Regina. "Can I help you ma'am?"

Regina put a hand up to shade her eyes, "Ms. Swan?"

She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the horn of her saddle. "That's my name don't wear it out. Do you need something madam?"

"I uh.." Regina smoothed out her skirt and then realized that with all the dust it was useless. She straightened her spine, "I'm Mayor Mills. I was hoping to welcome you to Storybrooke."

Emma dismounted and left her horses to wander. "Thanks a lot for the warm welcome, but I doubt you'll see much of me until I learn my manners. My boys included."

Regina began to sway. Emma stepped forward to catch her, but the mayor waved her off. "Thank you I'm fine. I hope you will find Storybrooke accommodating." Regina turned around and began the trek back to her car, stumbling and staggering with something that Emma just could not figure out.

Regal butted Emma's back and tossed his head in the direction of the Mayor. "I don't know, but I think this place is going to be interesting."

Regina stumbled into the house and brushed past Katherine straight to the crystal decanter in her study. "Whaaat the hell?" Katherine murmured, watching her friend pour herself a glass cider and down it almost as fast.

Henry came running up to them, "Aun' Katherine can has cookies?

Katherine patted his head, "Not now honey. Why don't you go clean up your toys. I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay!" He ran off to the kitchen.

Katherine knocked quietly on the door jamb, "Regina? Are you okay? What happened?" Her friend was not looking well. If anything, Regina looked worse than she did when Henry couldn't sleep through the night.

Mayor Mills downed her second glass and poured a third, resting the cool glass against her forehead. "Maybe you should slow down."

"Damn it!" Regina shouted, throwing her tumbler at the window.

Henry came running, "Mooooommmaaaa!"

Katherine scooped him up and rushed him upstairs. "Time for bed for you little munchkin. Momma will be up in a little while. You just stay in here and get dressed in your jammies." She set him down in his room and kissed his head. "Your momma and I need to talk."

Henry stuck his thumb in his mouth and nodded, looking terribly worried. He watched as Katherine thundered back down the steps and then hid himself in his blankets to wait. Katherine would have liked nothing better than to join him after she found Regina again.

Regina stood amidst the wreckage and the only sign that something was wrong besides the carnage was the tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. Books lay scattered across the floor mixing with cider and glass shards where Regina had thrown the rest of the glasses and the entire decanter of her favorite vintage.

Chest heaving, and fists clenched, Katherine had never seen Regina look so unhinged. "Regina, please tell me what happened. This isn't like you." The woman took a few cautious steps towards her friend.

Regina took a shaky breath that rattled inside her ribcage. She felt it bounce through the hollow space where her heart should have been. Regina grabbed the bookcase to steady herself. Agony of the purest form wrapped it's arms around her until she could barely gasp for the pain. It choked her sobs and forced tears to her eyes. Katherine watched in horror as her best friend crumpled in front of her. "It can't be." She sobbed, clutching at her chest.

Katherine knelt beside Regina and wrapped her arms around her friend. "Shh, shh it's gonna be okay." Katherine whispered, rocking the broken woman. Regina hiccupped through the pouring tears and clutched Katherine's shirt like it was the only thing left in the world that made sense.

Neither one was really aware of how long it took for Regina to stop sobbing, but it became obvious when she pulled back from her friend's embrace with the only word on her lips that would have halted Katherine's protests. "Henry." Regina wiped her eyes and got to her feet. "I trust you can see yourself out." She sniffed hard and adjusted her blouse.

Katherine put a hand on Regina's shoulder, "Oh hell no. You are not going to do this. What the hell happened Regina? I've never seen you like that. Not since-"

Regina shrugged her off, "We both know you have so you can leave now Katherine. I survived before, I will not put myself through that again." She left the room, but Katherine heard her whisper, "I have Henry to think about now."

Her friend stood there in the mess surrounded in helplessness. Is it really healthy for a two year old to be the only thing standing between Regina and that kind of anguish? Katherine bit her lip and went to her car. It was the only thing she could think of doing.

By the morning Mayor Mills was back in fighting order. Not a trace of the damage done last night, and the only sign of her discontent gave her the peace she so thoroughly craved. No one got in the Mayor's way as she clicked her way down the halls in shoes designed to put the wearer through utter agony. If her Louboutin's weren't enough to drive off any passerby, the look of tightly controlled rage shut them up. Even her secretary knew better than to mention the calls on hold. One by one she informed each caller that the Mayor would get back to them at a later date and hung up.

Whatever had thrown the Mayor into her mood left the rest of the town feeling off.